May. 30th, 2007

Facts

May. 30th, 2007 02:57 pm
jack: (Default)
You are X and I claim my five pounds

This originated in newspaper competitions designed to raise circulation. A target was hired to walk about in a town, and a description and a prize publicised. Anyone carrying a copy of the paper could claim the prize by recognising him and speaking the appropriate challenge, the one that was remembered being "You are [pseudonym] and I claim my [$amount][1]". (The point being, you had to have bought a paper to be able to win.)

It was possibly made famous by Graham Greene's Brighton Rock, in which the introductory character is such a target. Graham Greene is another classic 20th century author you should probably have heard of.

Nowadays the phrase has become a humorous way of comparing a speaker to someone else. It's apparently more British than American. Though I maintain that most people get the general context without being aware of the history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud

So now you know!

[1] Did you see what I did there?

Meerschaum

Meerschaum is a soft white mineral sometimes found floating on the Black Sea, and rather suggestive of sea-foam. Its chief use is for smoking pipes and cigar holders.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meerschaum

Larry Niven made up Opal Meerschaum, but, like Transparent Aluminum, if you've been paying attention to the real world, you'll see the antecident in the second word, and not think it was just some futuristic sounding syllables thrown together.

scarlet pimpernel

The scarlet pimpernel is, unsurprisingly, a scarlet coloured pimpernel flower. The eponymous hero of the eponymous play so called himself, um, I forget why, but it was good publicity. You should have heard of this one too.
jack: (Default)
(lupie, lizzip, aldabra There was an lash out against livejournals that list potentially objectionable interests, I hear including fiction, or victim support. See, reasons for decentralised socialising forums.)

Conveniently, I don't have any interests. I've won! Mwahaha! Wait, no, that makes me sound sad...